Not only does Ros know Harry's worth but she has earned his complete trust which is why in advance of both he and Ruth arriving for what is an unprecedented reason she has made a couple of calls which ensures that before they do, both Beth Bailey and Dimitri Leventis both of whom have finished their training but weren't expected to start for another couple of weeks have been added to the number field officers, who along with Tariq have been summoned to arrive no later than seven thirty.
Why so early none of them had asked, only for it to become abundantly clear during a coffee and get to know you chat that when Harry does eventually resume his rightful place at the head of the meeting room table, that any comments or questions from the newcomers to infer that they had heard on the Thames House grapevine that Ruth Evershed was dead when she clearly wasn't would see them making coffee for the foreseeable future, in the same way that in a voice which made it clear that to cross Ros was akin to chewing your own toenails she insisted that to join the gossip mill which had caused Ruth to say no to a second date and subsequently step into the frame rather than see Harry go to prison, not of course that she had used those exact words, questioning why they were arriving together and in all probability would leave together at the end of each day was absolutely forbidden.
Which meant that when they did arrive and Harry headed into his office which Ros had vacated the previous evening, he found himself able to look out across a grid which not only for the first time since Adam had been killed was fully staffed but what he presumed quite rightly had been Ros's doing in that Ruth who desk was next to Jo's was in the same location as it had been before she had left which meant that she was directly in his line of sight and made him feel a great deal more comfortable.
Although what he hadn't needed two days later, having watched the team pulling together combined with blissfully happy and relaxing evenings at home, was for Nicholas Blake the Home Secretary to turn up just as he and Ruth were about to leave with the sole purpose of telling him that he had been approached by someone who had suggested that there was an organisation determined to change the world order, and although he couldn't tell him who his source was he was telling the one man that he trusted. Whether or not Harry trusted him post the Davey King episode he wasn't sure, but concluded he must when a few days later the news coverage showed a stressed looking Home Secretary surrounded by the press, climbing into a car having resigned or been sacked, with no explanation as to which or why and more so when two days after that and within hours of contacting him to arrange an urgent meeting, Samuel Walker, Harry's counterpart in the CIA was found dead having apparently thrown himself off the balcony in the building where they had arranged to meet.
The sum-total of which saw Ruth at her analytical best, although what she had discovered and was explaining to the team at the morning briefing which was that all the money from what was an organisation called Nightingale had been transferred to Pakistan, was despite Harry's admiration raising more questions than it did answers. Primarily who and how many people were part of this organisation and was Andrew Lawrence the new Home Secretary somehow involved and where did the Chinese fit in if at all?
The second question only adding to his concerns when as much as Harry hadn't wanted her to go so was listening in, when Ruth responded to a request from a Chinese asset of Adams who she was meeting in the park and after a few pleasantries to suggest that they were no more than friends got as far as saying, 'there will be a war,' before a shot was fired, causing Harry's blood to run cold and Ruth who had so recently watched George die in a similar fashion to say 'I'm fine,' when she clearly wasn't.
Which meant that it fell to Jo to not only to race over the grass and help a terrified Ruth to her feet but to cement her own place on the grid despite being part of the team which included both Beth and Tariq who hadn't been able to spot the person who had pulled the trigger so were bracing themselves for a roasting when they got back to Thames House, when Ruth walked into Harry's office without knocking, at which point Beth was stupid enough to say, 'they are aren't they.'
To which Jo responded with a look that told Beth she had overstepped the line and then some, before waiting until Tariq had gone back to the technical suite and she and Beth were in the kitchen making everyone a drink saying, 'am I right in assuming that it was your identical twin who was at the meeting when Ros made it quite clear that speculation or making comments about Ruth and Harry's relationship at any time and under any circumstances was forbidden?'
That Beth didn't answer but her expression suggested that she was looking for a way to climb out of a very large hole, reminded Jo that she had done the very same thing which had caused Ruth to bolt and was why she added, 'but as I'm the only one who heard what you said and providing I have your assurance that you won't so much as raise an eyebrow in their direction from now on, I suggest that you take a deep breath and then take them their drinks.'
What neither Jo or Ros knew was that George had never been the loving and considerate partner that Harry was, or did Ruth intend telling them for the simple reason that although she would never forget the sight of George falling to the ground, the emotional support that Harry had been and still was giving her both during their reduced break and now at home and without making a meal of it, was helping to make it diminish if only slowly. That and work was work and of course the sound of another shot and a body with a bullet hole through its head slumped on the seat beside her had terrified her and to a degree made her wonder how much worse things were going to get, but for now it was enough that Harry was sitting beside her and not as he might have once done suggested that she shouldn't have come back to the grid which meant that when Beth who had knocked on the door and waited until Harry had opened it before bringing them their tea, without knowing that this was the second time that Ruth had watched a man die and despite not understanding what Ruth saw in Harry, could see that whatever it was which had brought the two of them together went far deeper than a need to cope with the horrors of the morning.
So much so that twenty minutes later when Harry and Ros left for a meeting with Andrew Lawrence with a view to finding out whether he had been party to Nicholas Blake being ousted or not and Jo asked Ruth if she would take on the task of spending some time with Tariq who had family in Karachi so was understandably worried, because after all it was one of Ruth's many talents, Beth heard herself volunteering to see how Dimitri who was digging around in the archives in an attempt to find out who else might be involved was getting on, leaving Jo to pull up the file on the asset who had been killed to see if it might be worth talking to one of his associates.
.
Looking every bit the Section Head that he is in as much as for the first time in what is almost two weeks Harry is wearing a suit and tie, what he isn't expecting Lawrence to say after he has invited them to sit down with an expression to suggest that he has summoned them to a tea party, 'I can't simply allow this situation to escalate to the point where it leads to a third world war.' The implication being that he thinks Harry doesn't know this only to follow it up by telling him that not only had he been at Cambridge at the same time as President Mudasser but that they had been and still are close friends. Before adding to Harry's already long list of reasons to leave and get back to the job in hand by saying, 'I've been on the blower to the US and we have their complete backing.'
Causing Harry to refrain with some difficulty from saying well bully for you and ignoring Ros's expression which suggests that she knows he is wound up, they leave the Home Office with plenty to think about. Primarily that they are no further forward to knowing whether Lawrence is a member of Nightingale or not, Harry's saving that for Ruth to find out along with a lot of other thoughts, so instead says, 'we need to talk to the Americans and not over the bloody phone to whoever has taken over from Samuel Walker. Because not only was he a family man through and through, but I never once in all the years I have known him had reason to doubt his integrity, so for anyone to suggest that he took his own life is preposterous.'
Only for Ros and not for the first time get the last word in by saying, 'not until tomorrow morning by which time we'll know what if anything else has come to light and before you tell me that you're not stressed Harry, we both know that what Ruth went through this morning was another wakeup call, so when we get back to the grid you take her home and leave the worrying to me.'